Hospital door and the like



Dec. 12, 1933. LA MO11- ATWQQD 1,939,159

aosrmu. noon AND THE LIKE File d Aug. 5, 1930 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR Dec. 12, 1933. LA MOTT ATWOOD 1,939,159

HOSPITAL DOOR AND THE LIKE Filed Aug. 5, 19:50 2 Sheets-Shed 2 5%,: ac/g5; v

1 J5 Z1 7 Z2 I O I INVENTOR 'Qwmm fli'lilllllpzy Patented Dec. 12, 1933 1 UNITED" STATES PATENT OFFICE.

r o 7 1,939,159 I HOSPITAL.DOOR AND THE LIKE La Mott Atwood, New York, N. Y., assignor to Equipment & Supply Co. 1110., New York, N. Y.," a corporation of New York 9 Application AugustS, 1930. Serial No. 473,215

Claims. (01. 20-36) The present invention relatesto door constructions and the objects of the invention are to provide a door for hospitals, hotels, public buildings,

7 railway cars, steamships and the like,which when 5 desired, can be opened at thetop or' at the bottom, or at both top and bottom, for .vision or ventilation,*or other purposes.

- Other desirable objects and the novel features of construction, combinations and relations of parts by which the same are attained will appear as thespecificationproceeds.

The drawings accompanying and forming part .of 'the specification illustrate a practical embodiment'of the invention, but as this illustration is primarily for'purposes of disclosure, it will be understood that the structure may be modified and changed without departure from the true spirit and broad scope of the invention.

Fig. 1 is a broken part sectional view of a door designed for hospital or like use and showing the upper movable panel in closed relation and the lower base panel as lifted, in open relation; Figs. 2, 3, 4 and 5 are enlarged sectional views as on the planes of lines 33, 4-4, 55 of Fig. 1.

The door herein disclosed, comprises a frame or body made up of a hanging stile 9 and lock stile 10 connected by top, middle and bottom rails 11, 12 and 13.

Top and bottom panels 14 and 15 are guided within the frame in cavities above and below the middle rail to cover or uncover the panel openings 16, 17. These panel housing cavities are designated 18, 19, and they are shown of a depth,

and as continued or extended at the edges and across the top and bottom of the panel openings at 20, 21, 22 to form guiding and retaining grooves for the panels. Suitable operating means are provided for sliding the panels back and forth in their holding recesses and extension guide channels. The means herein disclosed consist of two operating cranks or handles 23, 24, one for each panel, on shafts 25, journalled transversely in the middle rail and carrying pinions 26, one in mesh with a rack bar 27 connected with the bottom of the upper panel and the other in mesh with a rack bar 28 connected with the top of the lower panel. These rack bars are shown as backed up by rollers 29 holding them in proper mesh With the pinions and insuring easy straight up and down movement of the rack bars and the panels to which'they are attached.

To aid in the easy sliding movement of the panels and to releasably hold them in the vawidth and thickness to properly receivethe panels 'rious positions to which they may be shifted, the panels are shown as-carrying cushioning and retaining springs '30 concaved in, their outer edges, Figs. 2 and 3 and gliding over convex rails 31- in the back of the guide channels. These 0 springsand guide rails center the panels, enabling them to move smoothly from one position to another and serve to retain them in the open, closed, or intermediate positions. 9

By, operating handle 23, the upper panel-14 55 may be lowered entirely within the cavity provided to receive the same to fully uncover the transom opening in the top:of the door: or be lowered sufiiciently to partially uncoverthis opening, to any desired extent. Similarly, by operating handle 24, the lower panel may be raised to partially or to wholly uncover the bottom opening. Thus adjustments may be readily made for ventilation or for vision purposes. The unitary character of the door is the same in all conditions of panel adjustment, the panels slide smoothly and quietly with slight effort on the part of the operator and the door presents a proper finished appearance in all the various settings of the panels.

The door herein illustrated is particularly designed for hospital use and is shown mounted on double acting spring hinges 32, so that it may swing both ways. 7

The door may be constructed in metal, wood, 35 or other materials and may be of fire-proof, heat and sound insulated construction, such as shown, the latter being particularly desirable for hospitals and public buildings. Suitable ornamentation may be employed, as for instance, in the example shown, the push plates 35 are of ornamental design to match the ornamental kick plates 49 at the foot of the door. While particularly designed for hospital use, where attention to ventilation and entertainment of patients by some view of passing traffic in the hallways is so important, it will be understood that the invention finds much wider uses in hotels, steamships, railway trains and the like.

Rack bar operating means such as shown, have the advantage of imparting a straight push and pull movement to the panels as shown particularly in Fig. 1.

These bars may operate through passages 50 in the middle bar of the door frame and into aligned passages 51 in the panels.

What is claimed is:

1. A door construction, comprising a frame having stiles connected by top, bottom and middle rails, said frame having a panel receiving cavity .above the middle rail and a panel receiving cavity below said middle rail with panel guiding channels extended as continuations of said cavities to the top and bottom rails, said frame being open between said top and bottom rails and said panel housing cavities, and said upper and lower cavities and guiding channels extending in vertical alignment, vertically aligned panels movably mounted in said cavities and shiftable therefrom in said channels and means for selectively shifting the panels one independently of the other to cover or uncover said frame openings.

2. A door construction, comprising a frame having stiles connected by top, bottom and middle rails, said frame having a panel receiving cavity above the middle rail and a panel receiving cavity below said middle rail with panel guiding channels extended as continuations of said cavities to the top and bottom rails, said frame being open between said top and bottom rails and said panel housing cavities, panels movably'mounted in said cavities and shiftable therefrom in said channels, means for shifting the panels to cover or uncover said frame openings, including rack bars connected one with the lower portion of the upper panel and the other with the upper portion of the lower panel, operating pinions engaged with said rack bars and means for selectively actuating said pinions;

3. A door construction, comprising a door frame having a middle rail with passages therethroug'h, panels slidingly mounted'inthe frame at opposite sides of said middle rail and having passages in alignment with the passages in the middle rail, rack bars attached to saidpanels and operating through said passages and gear means engaged with said rack bars.

4. In a door construction, a frame comprising stiles connected by top, bottom and middle rails and having vertically aligned panel receiving cavities above and below said middle rail, with panel guiding channels extending as continuations of said cavities to the top and bottom rails and theframe being open between said panel housing cavities and said top and bottom rails, panels slidable in said channels and receivable in the cavities above and below the middle rail, operating means including an exposed handle on the face of the door for raising and lowering the upper panel out of and into the cavity above the middle rail and operating means including a handle exposed on the face of the door for lowering and raising the lower panel out of and into the cavity below the middle rail and independently of the action of the upper panel.

'5. A door construction comprising a frame having panel openings at the upper and lower ends of the same and panel housing cavities in line with said openings and in substantially vertical alignment, panels slidingly guided in said cavities in substantially vertical alignment and shiftable from said housing cavities to completely or partly cover the panel openings to any desired extent, -mechanism connected with the upper panel for raising and lowering the same to any desired extent, mechanism connected with the lower panel for the lowering and raising the same-to any desired extent and readily accessible handle means for selectively operating either of the panel raising and lowering mechanisms.

LA MOTT A'I'WOOD. 

